Green Lillies
by selfless1978
Summary: A teenager gets a different out look on life after she has a run in with four mysterious shadows. A 2014 Turtle tale written for a friend. Enjoy ;)
1. Chapter 1

Jewels opened the window to her bedroom to the late night air. Screw her parents, what did they know anyway. Grounding her just because she got caught shoplifting, it wasn't like no one else did it. Try to tell her she hung with the wrong crowd, will they? Tell her she couldn't see her friends anymore, well she would show them. They never understood her anyway, refused to see her point of view on anything. Her friends were the only ones that understood her and so what if they were in the purple dragons. She didn't care about that, they understood her for who she was, that's what she cared about. They were all in agreement, parents suck and didn't understand anything.

Looking around her room one last time she couldn't help but feel a little pang at the thought of leaving but she quickly brushed the feeling away. Her freedom was worth more to her than this stupid excuse for a family. She was sixteen, for crying out loud, not a little baby. Without any more delay she picked up her bag and slipped out the window. It was time to blow this joint. They would see, she didn't need them, any of them. Didn't need her teachers, her parents none of them.

She climbed down the fire escape next to her window and made her way to Central Park. Jewels was supposed to meet the gang there tonight and she couldn't wait. Tonight they were going to make her a full fledged member of the gang, all she had to do was pass a test. Willow, her best friend, had gone through her test already but she wasn't allowed to tell what it was. She did say it was easy though, so Jewels wasn't to worried.

It took her awhile to get to the park and it was about midnight when she finally got there. "Jewels!" Willow greeted her with a large smile. Willow was cool, she didn't give a crap about what her parents said or thought and had run away from home months ago herself. She was the one that had encouraged Jewels to just up and leave and was apparently happy that she finally did. "Just in time. We are about to get started. Got some other new recruits to break in tonight too."

Jewels walked next to the tall dark haired girl as they joined up with the rest of the group of about twenty members. "So, what's the plan?" She asked Willow as they walked.

She only got a wink and a "Wait and see." Apparently her friend still wasn't going to tell her anything.

Once they joined the group one of the older members hopped up onto a rock and looked out over the gang, and soon to be, gang members. "Slight change of plans. We can't do our usual initiation right on the count of some weirdos that keep interfering, so instead of our usual smash and grab we will go find some other type of fun for tonight. Let's go." Then he hopped down from the rock and lead the way into the park. They were being led into more the wooded areas where there were no lights really and lots of trees to hide any activities that might take place back here.

Walking behind the others she couldn't see what their goal was until they stopped. "This should do nicely." The leader said. "Bring the newbies up here." Jewels and three others were pushed up to the front of the group. She looked down and lying in front of her was a homeless man who had been sleeping under a tree. He was an older man and he looked up at them blinking in confusion as he woke up. "There you go guys. You want in? You beat the snot out of this guy." He grinned a mean grin. "Gotta do our part to keep the city clean, you know."

Jewels was shocked. This was not what she expected at all. She didn't have a problem with a little breaking and entering, or stealing. Heck she got busted earlier today for shoplifting. This was a whole different ball game, she was asked to do harm to another human being and she found that she couldn't bring herself to do it. She looked around in horror as the other three began to kick the old man, even a couple of Dragons did, Willow did...

She tried to turn away, sickened at the sight and sounds of the beating the old man was getting. She had to go get help, this wasn't right. A figure however stopped her. "And where are you going? Get back over there and finish the job." The leader told her.

"I can't, I won't do this."

He narrowed his eyes at her. "You do this or you don't get in."

"Fine. Then I guess I won't be a Dragon. I can't do that."

"Well, if you feel that way about it, then I guess you can be part of the entertainment tonight. You know to much about us for me to let you just walk away." She screamed as he grabbed her by the arm and drug her back into the middle of the circle, then he pushed her down onto the ground next to the now bleeding old man. "Got another one for you to practice on. Seems like someone had a change of heart, you know how we deal with that."

She looked around with wide eyes as the shadows of her friends closed in around her, the four larger ones that just arrived behind the group scared her the most. They were huge, this was going to hurt. Then suddelny a foot lashed out and hit her on the face and her head slammed back into the tree the old man had been trying to sleep under. Spots filled her eyes and she really couldn't see to clearly but she had enough sense still about her to try and protect her head from anymore attacks, but none came. There was sounds of someone beating on someone though.

She moved her arms and looked and was surprised to find their attention was not on her anymore. They were to busy getting the crap beat out of them, by the four large shadows she noticed earlier. She watched, amazed, as they effortlessly plowed through the Dragons. The one of them hit the leader and he came flying into her, again slamming her head into the tree. This time she started to fade out.

"Oh good job, Mikey. You just knocked out the girl we were trying to save." She heard a deep voice say then she heard no more.

.

.

Raph smacked his brother. "You need to be more careful, dipshit." One again Mikey's flair for theatrics interfered with his good judgment.

"Jeez, I'm sorry!" Came the protesting reply.

"Raph is right Mikey. You could have hurt her." Oh great. Leo agreed with him on something. "Did you have to hit him? What have I told you about hitting him?" Never mind. Raph sighed, everything had to come with a lecture with Leo. He really wasn't in the mood to listen to it tonight, but then again he never really was in the mood for one of those. He would stay in the _hashi_ the rest of the day by himself if it would just shut Leo up.

"You can't tell me you didn't want to." He grumbled at his older brother. God Leo was just so stuck up at times, acting like he never gave Mikey a good smack.

"Of course I did, but Splinter said no more hitting." Goody two shoes.

"Guys, can we not do this now?" Donnie spoke up. "I got an ambulance on the way, we need to go."

"What about the girl?" Mikey asked concerned. Well he should be concerned, it was his fault in the first place. "We can't leave her here."

What the heck was going through his pea brained mind now? He didn't actually want to take her with us, did he? Leo looked their younger brother. "No, we can't. But we are not taking her with us either."

"Why not?" Yup, the idiot wanted to take her with us.

Raph glared at Mikey. "Because we know nothing about her, stupid. You don't really think we can take her home do you?" God he was such a twit sometimes, but Raph did have to admit his heart was in the right place, even if his brain wasn't. He looked at Leo. "Now what?"

Leo thought quickly. "Donnie check her things, see if you can find out where she lives."

Raph watched as Donnie searched through her bag for a few moments, finally he looked up. "Nothing, I think she might be a runaway."

"Then let's let the authorities figure it out." Leo said. "Take to the trees, we'll watch over them until the ambulance arrives."

"You sure there is a tree big enough to handle Raph's fat ass?" Mikey grinned.

Raph glared at his brother. "Come here you..." He started walking towards the smart mouth and Mikey squealed. The younger turtle quickly made his way up a tree, with Raph not far behind. He had just about had enough out of his little brother for one night, maybe if he broke a few of his teeth he would shut the hell up.

Raph had just about had his hands on him when Leo's whisper cut through the night air. "Knock it off you two!"

"You are so dead when we get home." Raph grumbled up to Mikey as they settled down in the branches. Trying to get his annoyed mind off of his little brother he kept his eyes glued to the figures below, and found them wandering back towards the girl. She was't that old, couldn't be more than fifteen or sixteen. Donnie had said she might be a runaway and he wondered what could be so bad at home to make her want to leave. And to hang out with the Purple Dragons of all people, what on earth had she been thinking? It's a good thing she was pretty, because her brain seemed to be lacking some good judgement skills. Wait, did it just cross his mind that she was pretty? Again his eyes wandered over her, she was tall with long legs and a slender build. And her hair, even in the dark he could tell it was a shade of red, framed a heart shaped face. Yes, he had to admit to himself, she was pretty. Not that he could do anything about it. It's not like he could just walk up to her and ask her out on a date.

Still even knowing that his situation would more than likely never allow him to see her again he could help but feel a little sad when the ambulance and police finally found their way to the scene. His eyes followed her as she was loaded up and taken to the hospital and they followed the ambulance still long after it was gone. Surprising even himself he hoped that he would see her again. He was still gazing in that direction as the police rounded up the bodies knocked all over the place, sorting out who goes to jail and who goes to the hospital. There were quite a few of them that took the hospital route. Finally the scene below them cleared out, and Raph finally pulled his gaze away from the now long gone ambulance. He turned to notice Mikey perched next to him, smiling. "You like her. Raph actually found a girl he likes." He chuckled.

Annoyed beyond his short endurance, and a little embarrassed to be caught by his brother, Raph lashed out in normal Raph fashion. He pushed his brother out of the tree. He took great satisfaction from the crashes and groans as Mikey tumbled down. A lecture from Leo and Splinter later was well worth the chuckle it brought to his lips now.


	2. Chapter 2

Jewels was in for it now. Her parents had apparently filed a missing teen report with the police and they of course told them where she was. Now she was sitting in the emergency room as her Mom tore into her while her Dad was talking to the officer. This was going to be a long night. Still, she was thankful that she was still in one piece to get that scolding. She sighed and looked at her Mom. She hated to admit it, but they had been right after all. Her friends weren't what they had seemed to be, they turned on her the firat chance they got. And it took getting her head knocked into a tree to figure that out. Twice.

She thought about that as her Mom rambled on. She was so confused about what happened earlier, one minute she was about to get her butt kicked and the next they were getting theirs kicked. She was almost sure the second smack against the tree had been an accident. She don't know how she knew, she just did. And there was that voice she heard, it stuck with her for some reason she couldn't put her finger on. She kept hearing it in her head over and over again. She hoped that she would be able to meet the owner of that voice but figured she probably never would.

"Juliette, are you even listening to me?" Her Mom's voice cut into her thoughts.

"Yes, Mom." She replied even though she really wasn't. She just sighed as her mother went over her rant again. finally the doctor gave her the ok to go home and with a few stern words from the officer they left. Jewels was quiet as they headed out of the hospital and so were her parents. She didn't feel like talking and her folks were probably trying to figure out a suitable punishment for her. She rolled her eyes at the silent treatment as they exited the hospital and then stared as her eyes found a large figure, cloaked in shadows, standing on the rooftop across the street from the hospital. Then she saw three other forms move, then they were gone. It happened so fast she wasn't sure it even happened. Wondering if the blows to her head were causing her to see things, she followed her parents into the cab. Looking out the window to the rooftop again though, she hoped that wasn't the case.

.

.

"See? She's fine." Mikey told Raph. "All of your worrying was wasted." They were racing across the rooftops on their way home. It was by now very late and Master Splinter would no doubt be getting worried.

"I already pushed you out of a tree tonight. You want to try a rooftop next?" Raph replied. "Besides, it was your clumsy ass that put her there in the first place."

"Hey, I wasn't the only one that knocked her into the tree."

"No, but your the one who knocked her out." Leo said. "So it was our responsibility to make sure she was fine." Raph was glad the Leo didn't bring up that it was his idea to go to the hospital in the first place, even if Leo did look kinda funny at him. He was already getting enough grief from Mikey tonight.

Raph just had to make sure she was alright and when he saw her walk out of the hospital he felt both relief and and sense of...happiness? Something inside him started to get all bubbly, it was disgusting...but he liked the feeling. With a feeling of regret he had turned to follow his brothers away, they had came to make sure she wasn't hurt and she wasn't. They had come what they came to do and then they had left. Raph found himself making up excuses to stay, maybe even follow them, but there was nothing he could come up with that wouldn't clue his brothers in that he just didn't want to leave her. Raph sighed and ran on along side Leo.

He could tell Leo had heard the sound because he felt his brother watching him. He really hoped Leo wouldn't pester him about it, Leo had an uncanny sense of knowing what others were feeling. Leo stayed quiet however as they kept going which surprised Raph. Leo loved to meddle in his brother's lives, trying to play Mr. Mind Doctor. It annoyed Raph to no end, if he had a problem he would take it out on the punching bag...or Mikey. He didn't need to 'talk about it'. Didn't mean he wouldn't keep thinking about it...her, though.

.

.

It had been two weeks since that night and Jewels was finally off of her grounding. This was the first time she was allowed outside and she was enjoying it as she walked the streets. She really didn't know where she was going, she just wanted to get rid of that cooped up cabin fever feeling that had taken over during those weeks. It was a pretty Saturday afternoon, bright blue sky with puffy white clouds floating by. Not that you could see much of it between the towering buildings of the city. Well, that was city life, you took what you could get.

She and her parents had finally sat down and talked. She was able to voice her frustrations to her parents for the first time. The close call she had faced had majorly adjusted her thinking, She had to accept the fact that her parents had been right and she was wrong. Not an easy thing for her to do with her pride. She had apologized to her parents right after they got home that night, much to their amazement. They had been expecting another fight with her and looked at each other in shock as she just simply walked away to her room. The next morning she had her folks had that long talk over breakfast. Promises were made on both sides to try and be more understanding but they made it perfectly clear that she was still grounded.

It wasn't until she was in Central Park when she realized that was where she had been heading all along. Jewels looked around at the joggers, chess players, picnickers and others who would probably never know what had almost happened to her two weeks ago. Then she finally understood what brought her here, she wanted to find them. Those shadows in the night that had saved her. She wanted, needed to find them. To thank them at the very least, they had given her a second chance. A chance that she now used to get her life back on track.

She had made her way to the area she had been attacked as the sun was beginning to go down, soon she would have to make her way back home, or at least call her dad to come get her. It would have been ok to stay out later, her curfew wasn't until ten on non school nights, if she had friends but she didn't anymore so she was alone. Being alone was not good in the city, especially after dark. She sighed as she remembered she was almost going to join a gang that was part of the reason why.

Jewels wandered around for a while not sure exactly what she was looking for, heck she wasn't even sure they would be here. She was just going of a hunch. By the time she gave up dusk had already set and the shadows were starting to deepen. She had stayed to long already and it was past time to go so she started to make her way back to the park entrance, pulling out her phone to text her Dad. Not paying attention to where she was going she shocked herself as she bumped into a large, and obviously drunk homeless man.

"I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention." She apologized and began to move around him, trying to make her way out of the park.

"Hey now." The drunk guy slurred at her. "You gotta be more careful. Don't know what kind of creeps hang out here. Park hasn't been safe lately."

"I know." Jewels smiled at the smelly man. "I was a bit preoccupied is all." She turned and again once again continued on her way.

She was now entering a now abandoned stretch of park and was again trying to text her Dad when she heard a voice that made her heart stop for a moment. "You know, the hobo was right. You should be more careful out here. I'm starting to wonder if that brain of yours works." It was the same voice...The same voice she heard that night. She turned in the direction the voice came from, and found no one there. She could see nothing but trees in the semi darkness.

"Oh good job Raph, You just gave us away." She heard another voice whisper.

"Shut up, Mikey." Said the voice from her memory.

"Dude, Leo is going to have a shit fit."

"Leo isn't here and you don't need to tell him."

"You sure about that? And I already know." Came yet another voice, this one had a faint hint of anger in it.

She heard the first voice sigh. "I really don't want to hear it, Leo."

"Well your going to hear it!" Leo?, snapped.

"Here we go..." Said a fourth.

Jewels was to shocked to do anything. She had been looking for them but never expected to actually find them. She stood there as the argument progressed, not sure exactly on what to do. Finally she gathered up her courage. "Um, excuse me." They immediately shut up, once again reminded of her presence. "Please, I was looking for you."

"Why?" Came, she assumed Leo's, voice from the woods. They were still out of her sight.

"I wanted to thank you." Why was she so nervous? Maybe it was because she had no idea to who exactly she was talking to.

"So, we save you from a beating in the park after dark and you come back, after dark, to thank us?" She heard her memory voice chuckle. "Didn't learn your lesson the first time to good did you?"

Now she was getting irritated. She was trying to thank them, him, and she was being made fun of. "I didn't have to, you know. Just like you didn't have to follow me to the hospital that night."

Silence came from the woods now. "Dudes, she saw us."

"We heard that, Mikey. We aren't deaf." Came a strained Leo's voice. Something was obviously bothering him about that revelation that she had seen them. "So, what exactly did you see?"

Now she was curious. Why on earth would her seeing them bother them? "Nothing really. It was to dark, just like it was too dark for me to see you clearly in the park." Lord knows she wanted to see them though. She stayed where she was however, she some how knew if she made a move towards them they would go and she didn't want that.

"Ok, well, your welcome. You need to go, it won't be safe here soon." She could tell they were about to back away.

"Wait!" She called out to them. "Can I at least meet you guys?"

"I'm afraid that's not possible." Came Leo's reply. "You wouldn't like what you would see."

Well she sure wasn't going to leave until she got to see them. Stubbornness and curiosity took a hold of her at that point. "Fine, then I will sit right here until you show yourselves." She sat down cross legged on the path. She meant it too. She knew they wouldn't leave her there alone and they would be stuck there until she decided to leave.

It hung there for a few moments as silence took over. "Guys, I think she is serious."

"Mikey's right, my scanners indicate that her vital readings show no intention of her moving anytime soon."

"Your not helping, Donnie. Raph! Wait! Where are you going?"

"Fuck it, Leo. She wants to see us, let her see us."

"Get back here!" There was the sound of what sounded like a wrestling match then two large forms rolled out from the trees. It was a good thing Jewels was sitting down already or she would have fell over, as it was she was staring in wide eyed shock at the figures wrestling around in the dead leaves ten feet in front of her. The were large and they were...she didn't know what they were besides green. Suddenly they rolled next to her and stopped, two sets of eyes met her shocked ones. One blue pair behind a blue mask and one amber pair behind a red one. For some reason the amber eyes held hers though, she somehow knew this was the owner of the voice that stayed in her memory.

"Well, I guess that takes care of that dilemma." Came from the wood line and she looked and found two more standing there. These were wearing purple and orange masks.

"Wh-what _are_ you?" She asked them. She really wasn't scared more awestruck.

"Isn't it obvious?" Said the orange masked one. "Super large, super cool turtles."

"Can it, pin head." She had been right, the voice did belong to the red masked one. The two next to her stood up and looked down at her. She felt so, so tiny next to them and she also stood up to take some of the feeling away. It didn't work.

The blue masked one sighed. "Come on. We apparently now need to talk and standing in the open isn't the best place to do that." He glared at his red masked brother. "Thank you for making this night so complicated, Raph."

"Anytime, Leo." Raph grinned at him.

Leo looked at Jewels. "Come on, we will take you home and explain everything on the way."

Raph walked over to jewels. "I hope your not afraid of heights."

Jewels looked at him, with him so close to her she felt her blood beginning to race. "No i'm not. Why?"

He grinned at her. "Your going to love the way we travel." He then scooped her up, ignoring her startled squeek, and they moved out into the deepening night. Well, it looked like she would get home safe after all. Heck, who would mess with four large turtles?


	3. Chapter 3

Jewels was thrilled. Here she was almost flying over the roof tops, their leaps were high and far and she felt the wind pass through her red hair every time they took off on one of those daredevil leaps. Never had she imagined to be doing this, flying across the rooftops with four large mutated turtles. But god she was having so much fun! She couldn't help laughing with glee, and she wasn't the only one. Mikey was flying along next to her and Raph, yelling whoops everytime they made a very large leap. They were coming back up on another large gap and Mikey was running even faster and with another whoop launched himself high in the air, Raph followed right behind him. Together they landed on the slanted roof of their target building and they slide sideways down, Mikey with his arms out streached for balance. Leo and Donnie were already on the way to the next building, flipping high into the air. Raph and Mikey reached the bottom and followed their brothers high over the gap.

"This is awesome!" Jewels cried out as she found herself high over the streets below.

"Isn't it?" Mikey hooped as he landed and they were off again, running for the next gap.

They had all just landed when Leo suddenly came to a stop on the rough surface of the roof, skidding a few feet due to his momentum. Donnie caught on and also stopped next to the eldest. The yougest wasn't as quick and he slammed into Leo and Donnie knocking them over and they all went rolling across the roof. "Mikeeey!" They fussed at him.

Jewels laughed as Raph skidded to a stop. Raph, however, wasn't laughing, his face had took on a serious note. Then Jewels noted that Leo had that same look on his face as he turned to his larger brother. "Stash her somewhere safe." Leo told him softly.

Now she was a little nervous as Raph tucked her in between a roof stairwell and some kind of shed on the roof. "Stay here and don't make a sound. Leo senses something and that usually means trouble." Then he was gone out of her sight.

Then she heard the sounds of, thumps grunts, clangs, moans and Mikey's whoops of joy. She slowly moved forward until she could peek around a corner and stopped stunned. The rooftop was covered in fighting figures, they were fighting some black clad soldier/ninja looking types wearing weird plastic face masks. One of the goons saw her looking around the corner and came for her, he didn't get far when another black clad form slammed into him. "Didn't I tell you to stay there!" Raph yelled at her. She squeaked and went back to her hidey hole.

She cowered there the the corner watching black clad forms fly by. The last one she saw go by had Mikey riding him like a surfboard and she couldn't help a small chuckle at the sight. Then he came back flipping back by and disappeared again. After a few more thumps and groans the rooftop grew quiet but she stayed put. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder and she screamed, kicking and punching.

"Shit! Stop it! It's just me." Raph said turning her around.

"Sorry. You scared me."

"Raph scares everybody." Mikey said from where he was crouched on top of the stair well.

Leo walked up behind Mikey. "Time to go." He said looking around. "There might be more."

"Actually there is a 5.03964% chance-" Donnie was cut off.

"Let's just go." Leo sighed.

Raph picked up Jewels again and once again they were off. This time the fun atmosphere was gone from the rooftop run. "So who were those guys?" She asked Raph.

"You'd be better off not knowing." He told her. Jewels was certain he wouldn't tell her so she just left it alone. The rest of the trip was quiet as they made their way to her apartment.

Finally they settled on her building and Raph placed her down on the roof. "Don't go out to the park so close to dark anymore." He winked at her and then they turned to leave.

"Wait!" She called after them and they stopped and turned back to her. "Can I see you guys again?"

They exchanged quick glances. "It's not safe." Leo said. "You saw what happened tonight."

Raph met her eyes. "For once I agree with him." He said and again they turned to go.

"Please. I'm not good at making friends and when I do it always seems to be the wrong ones." She said softly, more to herself than to them. Suddenly it hit her how lonely she actually was. She had no friends, she had no one outside of her family. The ones she had thought would be there dropped her like a hot rock. Even Willow wouldn't talk to her anymore, not that Jewels wanted that friendship anyway. She sat down heavily on the rooftop, tears springing to her eyes. She defiantly wiped them away. Well, she had been alone before, she could do it again. Still, something inside her really wanted them to stay. Wanted him to stay.

She looked back up, fully expecting them to be gone by now, but they were still standing there, watching her. Again they exchanged quick glances, Raph and Leo held the longest look and something seemed to pass between them. Leo sighed and walked over to her and knelt down on one knee next to her. "Please understand where we are coming from. We do not lead simple lives, every time we go out there is a risk of events like tonight happening. We don't want to bring any danger to you." He then paused a moment. "I won't make you any promises but if we can stop by, we will. Let's see how this works out. Fair enough?"

Jewels smiled and nodded. That would have to do but at least there was a chance they would stop by. A chance she would get to see them again. This time she let them go as again they moved toward the edge of the building. Raphael turned back to her one last time and threw her another wink, then they were gone.

.

.

It had been over two weeks now since the rooftop run and Jewels once again found herself waiting on the roof top of her building. She had been doing this every night, hoping they would come by but they never did. She sighed as once again disappointment filled her. Looks like tonight was going to be another no show. She still held onto that hope though.

Jewels turned to walk back to the fire escape. Lost in thought she almost missed the sound of someone hitting the rooftop. It was the groan that came with it that got her attention. She quickly turned and froze in shock when she saw Mikey laying there on his side. He didn't look to good. Quickly she ran back over to him. "Mikey! What happened!" She knelt down next to him.

"Got...ambushed...separated...from the...others. No...where...else...to ...go." He was having trouble catching his breath. Now what should she do? She couldn't just leave him here. Well she had only one option.

"Get up. Your coming with me." She struggled to get the turtle onto his feet. "Can you handle the fire escape?"

"Gonna...have...to"

Gently she helped him the best she could. He wasn't as large as his brothers but still extremely heavy to her. He did slip as he made his way down the escape and Jewels winced as he hit the landing. "I'm sorry, Mikey." She quickly apologized.

"It's...ok."

She guided him to her open window and helped him inside. Quickly she shut it, locked it and pulled the curtains. Then she got a good look at him. He was covered in cuts and scrapes and he was holding his arm close to his side. What in the world had happened? She guided him to her bed and made him lay down in it. She would figure something out to tell her folks about the ruined sheets later. Then she snuck out of her room and raided the bathroom for what ever medical supplies she could find.

Jewels spent the next few minutes cleaning him up the best she could. His breathing still worried her, it still didn't sound right. She had no idea how to get a hold of the others to let them know he was here. Not to mention she had no idea how she was going to hide him from her parents tomorrow. Mikey himself kept fading in and out so getting information out of him was useless. Finally she caught him in a somewhat lucid moment. "Mikey. Who can I call? Who can I let know where you are?"

Before he could answer she heard a noise at her window and she went to go look. She pulled the curtain back a little and jumped as she saw a plastic masked face on her fire escape landing. Thankfully he didn't see her and she closed the curtain again. She happened to look down and saw the trail of blood Mikey left on her floor. 'They must have followed that.' She thought horrified. It wouldn't take them long to figure out where he went. Mikey caught on and tried to get up, pulling out his weapon, but didn't have the strength and he fell back onto her bed. She looked around for anything she could use for a weapon but there really wasn't anything there she could use, besides her nightstand lamp.

She heard more noises coming through the window then silence. Then came the sound of someone picking the lock on her window. She stood next to it with the lamp raised, and when the curtains moved she swung it. She almost made contact when a hand flashed out and caught her arm. "Crap! I really don't feel like getting beat up on anymore tonight. Put the fucking lamp down." Raph!

Quickly she put the lamp back and pulled the curtains out of the way. "Thank you for not braining me." He griped at her. Leo and Donnie were perched on the fire escape behind him. "Have you seen-"

"Mikey. He's here." She could see him close his eyes in relief as she moved to let them in.

"Hey...guys." Mikey smiled at his brothers. They quickly went over to him.

"You dipshit." Raph told him softly. "What in the hell were you thinking?"

"Had...to...draw them...away."

"Next time think before you decide to take on twenty men by yourself, you loon." Leo told him gently.

"Not good...at..thinking."

"We noticed." Leo said. Then he turned to Jewels who was quietly watching them from the corner of her room, trying to stay out of the way. "Thank you." He said simply, but gratefully. He and Donnie helped their brother up and supported him as they made their way to the window.

Raph came up to stand next to her. "How did you find him?"

"I was on the rooftop when he literally dropped in. I couldn't leave him there."

He tilted his head slightly looking at her. "Why were you up there this late?"

She blushed a little. "Well I was hoping, you know, hoping you would come back." She took a deep breath. "I actually missed you...guys." She was hoping he didn't notice her little slip up. Yes she had missed them all, but the one standing in front of her was the one she wanted to see the most.

He looked down at her, his eyes unreadable. "I missed you too." He said very quietly. Then he pulled her into a hug."Thank you for helping my brother." She was a little shocked. She didn't expect this from the rough and tumble big guy, but she returned his hug.

"Raph, cmon, we need to go." Leo said from the window.

He held onto her a moment longer then released her. He joined his brothers and they were about to leave when he turned back to her. "We owe you one. We'll be in touch."

Leo looked at him. "We?" He said with a small smile on his face.

Raph glared back. "Yes 'we'. Stupid ruined her sheets. I intend to get her new ones to replace them and 'we' are going to bring them here. Got a problem with that?"

Leo just chuckled as he went out the window. Grumbling Raph followed him and they slipped out into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

The sound of the brick shattering on the sidewalk was very loud in the night time city. "You fucking bonehead!" Raph snapped at his younger brother.

"Sorry! Jeez, Raph." This was his little brother's first time back out since he got jumped and he was still a bit clumsier than usual. Raph knew he was trying though and he immediately regretted his outburst. Mikey did get hurt trying to save the rest of them from an ambush after all.

"It's alright bud. I know, for once, your trying." Raph told him. "I'm just a little wound up tonight."

He caught Leo glancing his way as they kept moving. "No I don't want to talk about it, fearless." Raph snapped at him. He really didn't want his brothers to know he was nervous about seeing Jewels again. Even though he knew Leo was right, it was dangerous for them to interact with her, he couldn't help but miss her. Leo did try to keep his promise to her to try and come visit but the Foot had been dogging them relentlessly the last few weeks. It just hadn't been safe to go. That didn't do much to curb in his temper and the last straw came with that ambush that had separated them from Mikey. He was fairly sure he put a good number of them into the intensive care unit. Raph was like that sometimes, especially when one of his brothers got hurt. He stormed a Foot hideout once to save his brothers and he would do it again if he had too. Didn't mean that he wanted them to know he really like Jewels though.

Leo led the way down as they dropped down from the rooftop down to her fire escape landing. Mikey once again landing with a thud. His little brother wobbled a little and Raph quickly landed next to him to steady him. After this they were definately going to take him back home. Leo and Raph really didn't want him to come out with them tonight but the youngest had insisted. "She risked her neck for me bros, I have to tell her thank you." He had said.

Leo went to softly tap the window and his hand froze, instead he pulled his head as close as he could to the window. Raph knew there was trouble when his older brother's eyes widened and he pulled out his sais. Swiftly Leo brought out a kunai and shimmied the lock on the window open. There was a sound of a fight coming from beyond the bedroom door. Raph would have pushed Leo out of the way if Leo wouldn't have moved first. As fast as they were however they weren't fast enough, by the time thy got to the living room it was in shambles, and empty. "The roof!" Leo snapped and charged out of the apartment with Mikey as Raph and Donnie went back up the fire escape.

As he raced up the fire escape he heard the sounds of a helicopter coming in. That was way to much of a coincidence, it had to be here for a reason. Right now Raph didn't give a damn what that reason was, all he worried about was getting up there. He came flipping over the edge of the building and landed in a run as Leo and Mikey came bursting out of the stair well across from him. All four of them heading for the mass of Foot holding onto three limp forms, Jewels and her parents. Red flashed in Raph's eyes, oh he was going to put the hurt on those bastards, baaad... His sais flashed in the moonlight as he struck with the force of a small tornado.

.

.

Jewels was still trying to fight the effects of the blow to the head she had received earlier. She weakly struggled against the man that held her over his shoulder but she really couldn't put up much of a fight, hell she was only a teenage girl and the guy was built like a damn WWE superstar. She did notice that they had also grabbed her parents and fear started to set in. They had her whole family, not just her. She couldn't help but wonder if her meeting the turtles had somehow caused this, these seemed like the same guys that had attacked them before. She was so confused and more than a little scared.

She tried to struggle again against the iron grip that held her and again she didn't make any progress, she could hear the approaching helicopter now and fear once again gripped her. She knew somehow that getting into the chopper would not bode well for her or her parents. She tried one last time, and used all of her strength to break free and this time she did. It was not her efforts however that gained her her freedom. She felt a pair of hands grab her upper arms and a large leg lashed out at her captor, kicking the large man away as if he weighed nothing. Only then did she hear the noises of a fight on the roof top. She had been so preoccupied with her predicament she hadn't even noticed.

"Can you stand?" Raph asked her as he spun away with her from the fight, his legs lashing out at anyone who got to close.

"Yeah, I think so." Her head hurt but she figured that she could at least keep her feet.

"Get clear, we'll deal with these asswipes."

"My parents..."

"Leo's already on it, now _move_!" Well that tone left no room for arguments. She quickly backed up as far from the fight as she could. Worried sick for her Mom and Dad she watched and it wasn't long after when Leo came bursting out of the group with her mother, Donnie not far behind with her father. Neither one of them was moving however. Raph and Mikey held them back while Leo and Donnie retreated from the fight and headed towards her.

"Time to go!" Leo called to his brothers as they were clear and Raph and Mikey also cleared the fight, not before Raph slammed one of them onto the rooftop though, hard, very hard. Suddenly she was swept up into Raph's arms as he followed his brothers off the side of the building and onto the next. Once again she found herself flying and gliding over the rooftops but this time there was no enjoyment in it. She clung to Raph as he once again made a tremendous leap, landing ontop of a water tower and smoothly launched himself into another leap to land next to Leo who was already running for the next roof top.

"Guys!" Mikey called to them. "That chopper is coming after us!" Jewels looked behind them to see the machine coming at them. Then a spot light came on, searching for them.

"They haven't found us yet! Keep moving!" Came from Leo.

"It's not going to be much longer before they do." Donnie told him.

"I know, but there isn't anywhere to hide right now."

Jewels watched as the helicopter kept coming closer. Finally it was to close for Leo's comfort. She watched in horror as he tossed her mother to Mikey, in the middle of a leap between buildings. Mikey smoothly caught her as Leo spun around and threw something she couldn't make out at the spot light. It exploded in a shower of broken glass and the rooftops were once again plunged into darkness as Leo continued his spin and landed onto the next roof top in a roll. He was back up on his feet in an instant and kept running. "Holy..." She couldn't help but whisper.

"He may be a pain in my ass...but he is good." Raph told her. "Shit!" This time it was her flying through the air as Raph tossed her to Leo who smoothly caught her. Raph had launched himself in the air kicking as two black clothed men came down from the chopper. He was moving forward again before the bodies even hit the rooftop. He then ran along side Mikey who was starting to lag a little. Raph took her mother from his arms and looked over to Leo. "He's not ready for this yet."

"I know. Just keep up a little longer little brother." Mikey just nodded his head and ran on. It wasn't long after that when Leo found what he was looking for. "Hang on!" He told her as he just dived off of the side of a building. Jewels tried very hard not to scream as she plummeted downwards. Instead of hitting the ground, and splattering all over the concrete, they fell into a large sewer tunnel. Leo seemed to know what he was doing though as he slipped into the large opening with his shell close to the wall. Then as the tunnel curved under them his shell made contact and they slid along the the wall of the tunnel. They had obviously done this before but it still scared the bejesus out of her.

They slid along the tunnel for a few minutes until they reached a certain point and Leo brought them to a stop and put her down. Raph came skidding to a stop next to them, followed shortly after by Mikey and Donnie. Raph then once again tossed her poor mother to Leo as he spun to catch Mikey who seemed to be having a hard time stopping. When Raph finally brought his little brother to a stop, skidding a few feet with his momentum, Mikey was breathing heavily. "You, alright Mikey?" Raph asked him.

"Yeah, bro. I'm just a little tired."

"We tried to tell you to stay behind."

"Then I would have missed all of the fun!"

"You goofball." Raph laughed then turned to Leo. "Now what do we do?"

"We need to find them someplace safe to stay." Leo replied. "Preferably before they wake up and freak out on us."

"April's?"

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea either. The Foot know she is affiliated with us."

"Well that narrows our choices considerably." Donnie said.

"I know, but what choice do we have?" Leo sighed. "I'll deal with Father when we get back."

Jewels was a little confused. "Where are we going?"

Raph came over to stand next to her then gently guided her through the dark tunnel as Leo led the way. "Your coming home with us." He told her. "I just hope your not afraid of rats." He mumbled.

"I'm not, but Mom is."

"Oh this is going to be fun..." Raph sighed as they walked behind Leo. "This is going to be a fucking blast."

Jewels had no idea what he was talking about but assumed she was about to find out. Honestly right now she didn't care where they led her, she knew where ever it was had to be safer than the home she just left.


	5. Chapter 5

Raph wasn't sure about this. It was one thing to bring just one individual here but they had a whole family under their care now. He was pretty sure Master Splinter would throw a shit fit over this. Still supporting a tired Mikey he led the way into the lair, and go figure their rat father was waiting for them. "How did your patrol go my sons?" He stopped and looked shocked as Jewels came in right behind Raph.

"Not as expected." Leo replied coming in behind them, still carrying Jewels' mother in his arms. "We ran into some...complications."

"Sensei, this is Jewels." Raph introduced the now nervous girl next to him. Her eyes widened a bit at the sight of the large rat but she kept her cool, for the most part. He kept waiting for her eyes to fall out though.

Splinter's eyes narrowed as they took in the girl and the two limp forms Leo and Donnie were carrying. "Explain!" He snapped at Leo. "Make suitable arrangements for them." He then addressed Donnie.

"Hai, Sensei." The younger responded and walked off with Jewels' dad.

"Donnie." The purple masked turtle stopped and turned, his eyes questioning. "Put them in my room for now. They are already going to get a shock when they wake up. No need to scare them some more with cluttered bedrooms." Raph snorted. They were teenagers, their rooms were supposed to be cluttered. Not their fault Leo was weird and kept a spotless room. Leo then turned his attention to the youngest as Mikey took the mom from him. "You get some rest." He nodded and followed Donnie. Well that left Raph and Leo to stand there and explain this mess as they turned back to their patiently waiting father. "I'm sorry Sensei, but they were targeted, we really had no other safe place to take them." Jewels was standing behind them still, eyeing the big rat a little apprehensively.

"Her place was crawling with Foot." Raph added. "We were barely able to get them out of there."

"I see." Came the calm reply as he calmly watched his sons, especially Raph. For some reason that gaze made him embarrassed and he began to fidget a little. "This is the one who helped your brother?" He asked finally.

"Hai, Sensei." They both said as Jewels shifted a little nervously behind Raph.

"Step forward, child." He told the nervous girl and the brothers moved out of the way to make room for her as she quietly stepped forward. "I owe you my thanks for helping Michelangelo. It would be selfish of me not to aid you now. You and your parents may stay here in safety."

"Thank you." She replied quietly.

"Go rest now, we will watch over you."

"Follow me." Leo told her "I'll show you to your room." Raph walked with them as they moved across the lair.

"He seems nice." Jewels broke the silence as they walked.

"He is, right up until the point we step into the dojo." Leo told her with a smile.

"I am surprised he was so quick to agree with them staying here though."

"He's not stupid Raph, he knows what's at stake. Just like he knows we wouldn't bring them here if we had any other choice."

"We? It was your idea."

"You know what I meant."

They entered the area where the bedrooms were just as Donnie was coming out of Mikey's room. He was frowning slightly in worry as they walked up. "What's wrong?" Leo asked him.

Donnie shook his head slightly. "Nothing is wrong, so to say. Just a little worried about him. I think he over did it tonight."

"Probably did." Raph told him. "We weren't expecting all this tonight."

"I'm sorry. I didn't want any of this." Jewels softly said, obviously still overwhelmed by it all.

"It's not your fault." Leo told her. "So there is nothing to apologize for."

"Yeah," Raph added, a bit hotly "you're not the one who should be sorry. But I will guarantee you that the ones who did this sure as hell will be."

"Besides," Donnie shot a small smile at her "you wanted to hang out with us, nows your chance."

"Like she would want to hang out with you, you nerd." Raph growled at him, oddly a twinge of jealousy hit him. "The only thing you would be good at is making her take a nap by boring her to death."

"Can it, loud mouth." Leo told him. "It's getting too late for this crap. Donnie, do you have a spare cot somewhere?"

"I have one in the lab."

"Oh no," Raph interrupted "you are not making her sleep on that damn cot. It's uncomfortable as hell."

Leo gave him an amused look as he raised an eyeridge. "You have a better idea?"

"She can stay in my room." He returned Leo's look with one that warned him to not push it, or he would knock his brother's teeth out.

Chuckling Leo held his hands up in surrender. "Fine. It's your room, if you want to let her have it, go ahead."

"Like I need your permission."

"Touchy isn't he." Donnie grinned at him. What the hell was it with these two? God damn, all he was doing was offering his room to the girl. What was so funny about that? He turned to Jewels to see her grinning too. Good lord, now they were all laughing at him. He reached out his hand and took hers. "Come on, it's this way." He ignored his chuckling brothers behind him as they turned and went back to more than likely talk to Master Splinter.

Mumbling under his breath he led Jewels to his private domain and opened the door, and immediately flushed with embarrassment at the messy state of his room. Well, shit... At least he had put fresh sheets on the bed today. The rest of the room was, well, a pig sty. Mumbling some more under his breath he began kicking stuff out of the way so she could get to the bed without killing herself, wincing as his bare toe made contact with a hidden weight that was buried under a pile of crap. Maybe he did need to clean his room.

Once he was satisfied that she wouldn't trip, as long as she stayed on the path he made, he turned to the red haired girl. "Bathroom is out the door to the left, second door down." He stood there a little awkwardly for a moment, not quite sure what to do now. Figuring actually leaving so she could get some sleep would be a good idea, he turned to leave the room when she caught his hand and he turned to look at her again.

"Thank you. For everything." She quickly leaned in and kissed his cheek, having to stand on the tips of her toes and even then she had to pull him towards her to do it.

Blushing and standing there stunned and with a goofy grin on his face he had trouble getting his brain to work to put a reply together. "Your welcome, I mean it's not a problem." He was quickly losing his cool, he needed to get out of here before he said something stupid, like Mikey. "Um, well, good night. If you need anything, Leo and I will probably be sleeping on the couch."

"Good night, Raph." She told him before he closed the door behind him.

He made his way back to the others who were talking quietly as the sat on the couches in front of the massive wall of TV screens. They screens themselves were dark at the moment since the one who usually had it blaring at top volume was passed the fuck out in his room. Raph walked around the couch and plopped down on the couch before he put his feet up on the coffee table in front of him. Master Splinter wasn't there, probably decided to call it a night himself.

"Got her all settled in?" Leo asked him.

"Yeah." He folded his arms in front of his chest. "So, what's the plan?"

"First we need to figure out what's going on."

"That's easy, the Foot was trying to kidnap the whole family."

Leo rolled his eyes. "I know that. But _why?_"

"Obviously not to invite them over for a party. Do we really need to know why?"

"It would help, I really don't feel like blundering around Foot headquarters just to bust them all up so they will leave the family alone."

"I do."

"You would." Donnie chuckled and Raph shot him a glare. Donnie ignored the look. "I think it might not be a bad idea to look into her parents' back ground. Really, we know next to nothing about them. Maybe there is something there that will help us figure this out."

"Why not just go ask them?" Raph grumbled.

"I would, if they weren't passed out in Leo's room." Donnie let a small frown slip across his face before it disappeared as quick as it came. "Something is nagging me about all of this, I just can't quite place it."

Leo was eyeing him. "Do I see an all nighter in your future?"

"Yup. That and someone might as well stay awake in case the folks wake up. I might have to sedate them again." He said with a wry smile.

"It might be a little noisey." Leo agreed.

"So that's the plan? Just sit here and wait for the parents to have a freak out session?" Raph couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You really want to leave two humans here alone with Father that have never seen us before?" Leo calmly asked.

Raph just grunted, Leo did have a point. Jewels was one thing, she already knew about them. He had no idea what her parents would do. Not that he was worried about their father, he could more than take care of himself, but someone had to be here to help him restrain them if needed.

"Besides, Mikey needs the extra time to heal before we go out snooping." Donnie added and Leo nodded in agreement. "Tonight was almost too much for him."

"Fine." Raph gave in with a sigh. Again knowing that his brothers were right. They had tried talking Mikey out of coming tonight but that went as well as trying to give a pissed off cat a bath. He threw a damn shit fit and ended up coming along anyway, just to shut him up. "So, we just spend the next few days just lying low and gather information?"

"Seems the best idea for now." Leo told him as he yawned.

"Someone is going to have to call April." Donnie said. "They are going to need some things if they are going to stay a while."

"I'll take care of it in the morning." Leo said.

Raph just sat there quietly as his brothers talked a bit more before Donnie finally got up and went to his lab. He hated just sitting here and waiting but it was for the best right now he supposed. It's just that he wasn't good at it. Leo and Donnie were the planners, he would rather just get to the busting heads part. But even he had to admit that jumping in with fists flying might not be the best idea right now. He took comfort in the fact that once everything was planned and ready he would more than likely get to stomp all over some Foot. Besides, he really didn't mind spending a day or two at home right now. He had Jewels here to talk to, didn't he? He allowed a small smile on his face as he thought of that, so lost in thought over it all that he missed Leo's quiet chuckle as his blue banded brother watched him with a knowing eye before he settled down on the couch for the night.


	6. Chapter 6

Jewels woke up to the sound of a piercing scream that echoed across the room. once that had faded she could hear her dad shouting and yelling in the background. It took Jewels a moment to remember where she was and what had happened and it all came flooding back even as calmer voices tried to talk to her obviously distressed parents.

She had just slipped out of the bed when the door burst open and Raph came stomping in. "Your folks are up, would you mind helping us shut them up? All their screaming and yelling is giving me a headache."

"I'm coming." She quickly told him and followed him out of the room.

He led her to Leo's room where her parents had barricaded themselves inside. Leo was calmly leaning on the opposite wall with his arms crossed while he waited for her to walk up. "Sorry, Mikey was trying to bring them some breakfast and they woke up on him. Poor guy was dodging pancakes there for a minute until he made it out of there. Then they locked themselves in and have been screaming for you ever since." He gave her a wry smile. "Apparently they think we ate you or something."

"Like I would want to." Raph grumbled. "All that hair would give me a hairball."

"Do turtles even get hairballs?" Mikey asked as he walked back up, using a washcloth to wipe syrup off of him.

"They would if they had to eat her." Raph grinned as he pointed a thumb at Jewels.

Chuckling, Jewels pushed past Raph and walked up to the door and knocked on it, loudly to be heard over the screaming and yelling inside. "Mom! Dad! It's me, open the door!"

There was a stunned silence from inside of the room for a few moments before there was the sound of it unlocking and it slowly opened and Dad slowly popped his head around. "Jewels!" He flung the door open and pulled her close to him, Mom crashed in just a second later and she was beginning to find it hard to breath they were crushing her so hard.

"See, we told you she was safe." Mikey said from behind them. Dad looked at him and freaked out again, slamming the door shut in his face. "Owww." The muffled complaint was heard through the door along with the sounds of laughter.

Jewels pulled out of her parents grasp after dealing with the 'Oh honey! I'm so glad your ok!'s. "Of course I'm ok." She smiled at them. "My friends came to help."

"Your friends?" Mom asked her, more than a little confused. "I didn't know you had any after the park incident."

She looked at her parents a little sheepishly. "I didn't make them until after the park incident Mom. And they took me a while to find again after that to even make friends with."

"Would you care to explain young lady?" Dad asked her.

Jewels sighed. "I didn't tell you everything that happened that night. The part of the Dragons beating up on that old man and I are true, as is the part that someone came and stopped them. I just didn't exactly tell you who it was that did."

"Why not?"

"Probably because I knew you would throw pancakes at them." She grinned at him.

They stared at her for a moment then looked to the door. "You mean, those, things..." Mom sputtered.

Now she was getting a little angry at them. They weren't things, they were her friends. "They could have let us get taken by those men!" She flared at them. "But they didn't, they came and helped us. The least you could do is stop being so judgemental towards them just because they are different! They have been better friends than any human has been to me so far." She finished with a sigh. "Even if I haven't known them for very long, I trust them."

"Oh, snap." Came from the other side of the door.

"Shut up Mikey!" The others hissed at him.

Her parents ignored the commotion outside the room and stared at Jewels. She however didn't give them a second thought as she turned around and opened the door wide. Leo was still leaning on the wall across the hall as was Raph now. Mikey was standing, looking a little silly, with his head pressed to where the door was just a moment before, then he toppled into the room. "Busted." He mumbled as he stood back up.

Jewels went over to help him back up to his feet then, after a look at her parents, gave him a hug. Mikey blushed a little but returned her hug. "Now, what was that for?"

"I never said thank you. So thank you." She smiled up at him.

"Aw man, it was nothin'." He mumbled.

Next she went to Leo and gave him one, then Donnie who had just walked up. "Am I missing something here?" He asked as she pulled away.

"I do believe she is trying to prove a point to her parents, and combining it with thank yous while she's at it." Leo smiled at him as Jewels moved on to Raph. He was a little harder to hug because he was so much larger than the others, but she managed. The return hug he gave her was surprisingly gentle, he also held on a few moments longer than the others did. Finally she turned and looked expectantly at her parents, who now wore thoughtful expressions on their faces. The fear was still there but not as much.

Jewels stood in the hallway, with the four turtles behind her, and waited. After taking a deep breath Dad grabbed Mom's hand and slowly they walked out of Leo's room into the hallway. "Well, I guess we should add our thanks to hers." he said as he approached them.

"None are needed." Leo calmly told him.

"Nonetheless, you have it." he tentatively reached out a hand, and Leo reached out his own. Their hands met in a firm shake.

"Now that we got that settled." Donnie said. "Anything you can tell us about why we had to save you from the big bad goons?"

"I'm not really sure...ah...I'm sorry, I didn't get your name."

"Geekhead works good enough for one." Raph said and Leo elbowed him.

"I'm Mikey!" The orange banded turtle chriped as he held out his hand. Dad took it and Mikey shook his hand vigorously up and down.

The poor man was wincing by the time Leo broke up the handshake. "Ok, calm down. You don't need to break his hand."

"Quite a grip you got there...Mikey." Dad said as he shook his hand.

"It's about as hard as his head. I'm Raphael. I'd shake your hand but I'm not sure my little brother didn't break any bones in it."

"Leonardo." He accompanied his introduction with a short bow.

"Donatello." This one was accompanied with a quick node of his head, but Jewels caught the movements of his hands hiding what looked like a couple of syringes. He caught her look and leaned in towards her. "Tranqualizers. Wasn't sure if I would need them or not." He murmured to her.

"Oh Donnie..." She giggled.

"And I am called Splinter." Came a voice from behind Donnie and Mikey and they moved out of his way.

He moved forward but as he did they heard a faint sigh and a thud. Turning to see what had happened they found Mom laying on the floor behind Dad.

"Why does someone always have to faint." Mikey said as he looked down at her and the rest of them just shrugged.

.

.

Dave wasn't too bad, Raph figured. At least he didn't faint. Once again they were all gathered around the large TV wall, with Raph once again sitting on the couch with his arms crossed and his feet up on the coffee table. Well, all of them besides Susan who was still passed out in Leo's room after her faint.

"So, you have no idea why they were after you?" Leo asked Jewels' Dad.

"No, I wish I did." He replied as Donnie handed him a cup of coffee, then he took a sip. "Hey, this is actually pretty good."

"Thank you." He replied. "I've had a lot of practice."

"I wonder why." Leo smiled. "You are the only one that keeps odd hours to need all that coffee."

"Hey, I'm a genius." Donnie grinned. "We geniuses always keep odd hours."

"I think we might be getting a bit off topic here." Raph told them. They might want to talk about that nasty stuff, but he was more concerned about why they were being chased by the Foot.

"I can't help but wonder if it might be because of me." Jewels said softly from where she was sitting on the couch next to Leo, her knees drawn up to her chest. "Because I took Mikey in that night."

"It is a possibility." Leo told her calmly. "But not a very high one."

"The percentage would be higher for them to go after April instead of you. She is a confirmed friend of ours where you were more of a coincidence. We haven't know each other long enough for them to put the connection together." Donnie added.

"But that is one of the reasons why we had to keep our distance from you, Jewels." Leo picked up the conversation again. "There is always the risk of something like this happening. We do consider you a friend, and as your friends we had your safety in mind by staying away."

"Which is pretty much moot now because they are being chased anyway." Raph said. "Now, Jewels, stop blaming yourself about what happened. It wasn't your fault and I don't want to hear anymore of that crap come out of your mouth." He didn't like that she was beating herself up for something that was, more than likely, not even her fault.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Way to handle the situation with finesse, Raph."

"Hey, you want finesse, go watch a ballet. I'm more interested in busting up these creeps."

"I usually don't condone violence, but in this case I agree with him." Dave smiled.

Donnie had by now sat down on the floor with his hands clasped around one bent knee. "If you don't mind me asking, what do you do for a living?"

"Me? Nothing exciting. Just a bunch of boring lab work." This made all of our heads pop up. Labs and Foot had a history of going together, and not always in a good way.

"What kind of lab work?" Leo asked him.

"Disease research mostly."

Donnie groaned. "Don't tell me they are still riding that old horse..."

"Excuse me?" Dave asked with a confused expression.

Leo sighed and leaned back into the couch. "You remember that falling tower incident on top of the Sacks building?"

"Yes, of course. The news was full of it for a week. That was a nasty chemical they put in there."

"Would it clear things up for you if we told you the Foot was involved in that as well?"

"What?"

"Yeah, I think the news skipped that part Leo." Mikey interupted.

"The Foot work for a man named Shredder and Eric Sacks was his student." Donnie clarified. "Sacks was caught, but Shredder is still floating around out there, somewhere, and has his Foot with him."

"You know, that might explain the massive foot sightings in that area the last few weeks." Leo said thoughtfully. "They were looking for you. Now we just need to figure out what they are trying to cook up this time."

"Known them, something nasty." Mikey said.

"How are you feeling today Mikey?" Leo asked the youngest.

"Better. Still kinda tired though." Raph narrowed his eyes, in Mikey speech that meant 'I feel like shit, but I really want to go, so I'll play it down.'

Leo wasn't buying it either. "You're staying home tonight. I'm sure the three of us can handle an information gathering run."

Mikey just sighed and nodded and Splinter laid a hand on his shoulder. "He is right, my son. Another night of rest will do you good."

Raph looked over to Leo, that familiar twinge of excitement hitting him when there is a possible Foot ass whoopin' in the near future. "So, we are going out tonight then?"

"Don't really see the point of delaying. The quicker we find out what's going on, the quicker we can stop it."

"What are you going to do?" Dave asked curiously.

"The usual." Raph replied. "Go out and beat the crap outta Foot until one of them spits out the answer we are looking for along with his teeth."

"That's a very graphic way of putting it." Donnie muttered.

Raph shrugged. "I'm a graphic kinda guy. It saves time if you get right to the point instead of trying to sugar coat it."

"Alright, then it's settled. We go out tonight and see what we can find out." Leo stood up. "Now, anyone feel like risking a peek in my bedroom to see if it's safe to go in? I personally don't feel like dodging furniture or something."

"Chicken shit." Raph smiled at him.

Leo shrugged. "Nobody is perfect."


End file.
